noob question - case cooling fan?

ftgpmbftgpmb
edited February 2007 in Hardware
so I've just bought a new PSU with intelligent cooling to power my pair of new SATA HDDs. This is great, but my case has a small 8cm fan which is really noisy. question is ... do I really need the case cooling fan at all?

The graphics card has it's own fan. The AMD Athlon CPU has it's own heat sink and fan. The PSU fan turns on when the system is getting hot and cools the whole case, right???? what am I missing.

Comments

  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    ftgpmb wrote:
    so I've just bought a new PSU with intelligent cooling to power my pair of new SATA HDDs. This is great, but my case has a small 8cm fan which is really noisy. question is ... do I really need the case cooling fan at all?
    The graphics card has it's own fan. The AMD Athlon CPU has it's own heat sink and fan. The PSU fan turns on when the system is getting hot and cools the whole case, right???? what am I missing.
    Hey ftgpmb. Welcome to Short Media.
    If the fan is noisy, it may be failing anyway. How much cooling your computer needs is dependent upon a no. of factors.

    What size is your case?
    What wattage is your PSU?
    What speed processor are you running?
    Where is the case fan located?
    Is it the only case fan?
    What devices are installed inside your computer?
  • ftgpmbftgpmb
    edited January 2007
    Pterocarpous wrote:
    Hey ftgpmb. Welcome to Short Media.
    What size is your case?
    What wattage is your PSU?
    What speed processor are you running?
    Where is the case fan located?
    Is it the only case fan?
    What devices are installed inside your computer?

    thanks for the welcome. I've got a regular size case with ATX ECS Socket 754 Mobo with AMD Athlon 64 processor with heatsink and fan. AGP graphics card with own mini fan. new PSU is 600W with intelligent cooling 120mm fan. Only hot thing in the case is a stack of 4 HDDs (2x80GB maxtors and 2x320GB Seagates) all 7200rpm. I suppose I am worried that the case fan is just interfering with all the other fans.... I've left a gap next to the graphics card to help it out based on some suff I read. can't I just let the PSU fan pull air over the Mobo through the case? case cooling fan slot is at the back (80mm size).
  • RiptideRiptide Northern Canada New
    edited January 2007
    The fans on the componants are only there to keep them cool. They won't circulate the air inside the case very well. Which is why most case's come with 2 or more fans. With 4 HD's & everything else, I would have at least 1-2 case fans (1 front & 1 back).
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    Riptide's right on the mark. You can check HERE, if you like ftg', for case fans for your tower. I assume you have a "mid-tower" computer case (as opposed to a micro or full tower) as they tend to be the most common.
  • RiptideRiptide Northern Canada New
    edited January 2007
    You can also have a look on ebay. I found a bunch of cheap ones there. The better the quality, (usually) the quieter the fan is. But even some cheap fans are better than none. Also, heat can be a major factor to failures. So the cooler you keep the case/componants, the less likely they're gonna fail.

    Two $10 fans... or
    $100+ for a new motherboard...:scratch:
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited January 2007
    I agree with the above posts. The rear fan typically removes the warm air from the case and completes the "air circulation" and flow loop. Not to mention that the mosfets are located nearby and can sometimes be the warmest part of the whole system.
    Removing warm air from a chip is one thing but removing it from the case completes the whole cycle. Monitor your systems temperature with and without the fan and that should tell the story.
    I'd buy a quiet fan from newegg and be done with it. I tend to go with high cfm/low dba. Evercool comes to mind right off hand but aerocool and other brands fit that category.
  • ftgpmbftgpmb
    edited January 2007
    thanks guys - may have to get a new case with more HDD bays to put some space between the drives and a front fan. By the way, if I'm too miserly to buy a new case can one get drive mounting brackets to adjust a 5 1/4" DVD/CD drive bay to fit a hard drive?
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited January 2007
    ftgpmb wrote:
    thanks guys - may have to get a new case with more HDD bays to put some space between the drives and a front fan. By the way, if I'm too miserly to buy a new case can one get drive mounting brackets to adjust a 5 1/4" DVD/CD drive bay to fit a hard drive?
    Yes. 5.25" to 3.5" mounting kits have been around for years. I'm sure there're many more sites you can find them on. HERE is one site so you can see what you're looking for. The way it works is you install the brackets onto the HDD then you slide the whole assembly into the 5.25 bay. (usually from the front w/ the front bezel (face) of the tower removed) How difficult this is will depend upon how hard it is to remove the front bezel (face) off of your tower and how tight it is inside your computer case. If it's tight inside the case, pull the ribbon cable out through the 5.25 bay and connect it then before you install the HDD into the 5.25 bay. Do this w/ the power connection, too if possible. The reason for this is the HDD will be recessed inside the bay making it difficult to see (or even reach) the connectors well enough to connect the IDE and power cables to the HDD from w/in the case.

    Something else you might want to consider (instead of the mounting brackets) is putting a removable hard drive rack in the 5.25" bay. (Get one that has a fan mounted in the back and a case that is constructed of aluminum for maximum heat dissipation.) I use VANTEC SATA and ATA removable hard drive racks and have been happy w/ them. They have displays on the front that include the temperature inside the drawer (in F or C) and other readings as well. They're really great for easy installation and removal of HDDs. I use them for troubleshooting, backing up, and imaging HDDs.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited January 2007
    ftgpmb wrote:
    thanks guys - may have to get a new case with more HDD bays to put some space between the drives and a front fan. By the way, if I'm too miserly to buy a new case can one get drive mounting brackets to adjust a 5 1/4" DVD/CD drive bay to fit a hard drive?

    Yes. Cyberguys has those adapters: http://www.cyberguys.com/
  • ftgpmbftgpmb
    edited February 2007
    So I purchased some of these Startech adapters with fans:
    http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=FANDRIVE2&c=UK
    which also improve the case cooling flow no doubt. I've mounted my two new SATA HDDs in these, so they are nice and cool. I've spread out the other two HDDs in the original HDD rack and using speedfan they seem to stay below 40 deg C, which, having done some reading seems OK. The core temp is also below 40 with the fan running, so altogether, things seem sorted.
    ps. I also bought a new rear fan too, thanks to all your advice.
  • PterocarpousPterocarpous Rosie the Riveter Lives On in CA, USA! New
    edited February 2007
    ftgpmb wrote:
    So I purchased some of these Startech adapters with fans:
    http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=FANDRIVE2&c=UK
    which also improve the case cooling flow no doubt. I've mounted my two new SATA HDDs in these, so they are nice and cool. I've spread out the other two HDDs in the original HDD rack and using speedfan they seem to stay below 40 deg C, which, having done some reading seems OK. The core temp is also below 40 with the fan running, so altogether, things seem sorted.
    Terrific! Glad you got it sorted out. Thanx for posting back here w/ your resolution. :thumbsup:
Sign In or Register to comment.